A Friend in Need
by Pseudomonas
Summary: Hermione has been having a hard time coping with stress in general, and Ron is there to keep her from drowning herself in alcohol. R/HG, M for sexual content.


Everything belongs to JKR!

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A Friend in Need

Hermione continued to empty the shot glasses as quickly as Seamus, the bartender of the local pub, could fill them.

"Rough day?" He asked as he poured the intoxicating fluid into one of the three shot glasses in use by Hermione.

"Rough week." She threw back what was her fourth shot after entering the pub only half an hour ago.

"Take it easy! Here, drink this for a while." Hermione watched Seamus conjure up a tall glass behind the bar counter where his magic could be hidden. He placed a glass filled with a pink-brown liquid and a cherry in front of her. "Fire whiskey shots will just make you sick. Unless you want to spend the rest of the night in the bathroom, ease down a little."

Hermione glared at the glass. "I don't need your fefe drinks. I can handle my alcohol, Finnigan." She knew she was being rude, but she didn't care. She also knew that he was right, and she hated being wrong.

"Oy, calm yourself down. This is a famous muggle drink, something called a Long Island Iced Tea. It's supposed to knock you on your arse but leave you in a good mood. Isn't that what you be looking for?"

Hermione continued to alternate her glare between the feminine-looking drink and her favorite bartender. He wouldn't lie to her, and seeing as how his bar was open to wizards on one side and muggles on the other side of the establishment, Seamus would know. She finished her last fire whiskey and pulled the tall glass towards her.

"There you go. I'll be back in a bit." Seamus walked to the other end of the bar where a few other wizards were impatiently waiting for the bartender's attention. As soon as he was out of sight, she quickly conjured a straw and sipped the new beverage.

"Hmm. Delicious, actually..." she admitted out loud.

"I know I am, but what else is new?"

Hermione cranked her neck to the right towards the familiar voice, and heard a loud crack.

"ARG. Thanks a lot, Ronald. Now I'm stressed out AND my neck is going to hurt. Simply fabulous." She rubbed the right side of her neck as her red-haired friend sat next to her with that large, goofy smile on his face. Sometimes, she really just wanted to slap him.

He remained completely unfazed by her hostility. "So, what, besides me of course, is delicious? This sissy-looking drink of yours?" He smirked as he swiped the glass out of Hermione's slowly-reacting hands and took a sip. "Wow. Seamus can actually make something good!"

"Make something _well_, Ron. It's make something _well._" While she noticed she began slurring her words, her irritation was still sharp. "What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you and Harry were practicing muggle behavior for your next auror mission... or what not." She managed to swipe the glass back from his hands while watch her with _that_ smile on his face.

"Harry went home... something about Ginny making a dinner that he would never miss. That better not be code for something else... anyway I am practicing. I actually have a car parked out front and I've been driving everywhere all bloody day! Driving takes forever! Muggles really need to learn how to do their own apparate thing. I think I should be asking _you_ what _you're_ doing _here_." As if for proof, he pulled a pair of keys out of his pocket and placed them on the counter.

"You're _driving!?_ No drinking then! You know how many car accidents are caused every day by—"

"Yes, yes, spare me the details, I won't order anything. Why are you hitting the liver so hard tonight?"

Hermione sighed. She had been desperately drinking to forget her work problems, meaning she was desperately trying to forget one of her workers, Todd Maroni. "It's Todd again. We have a presentation to give to my boss in three days, and the git still hasn't got his information together on the recent hippogriff trials. I've been working on it for _days_ and I'm going to look like a complete fool in front of my boss. I never should have taken that job at the ministry, it's more work than it's worth."

Ron began, "I'm sure it's going to be—"

"—AND," she continued as if she didn't hear him, "my parents are coming in this weekend to visit, so I've been cleaning and redecorating the guest room, AND Crookshanks keeps waking me up with the mice he catches outside, so I'm always exhausted. Worst of all, they're doing construction around my house so I can't go running AND my treadmill broke! I have no idea how to fix the thing, and I haven't been able to exercise in weeks! I HAVE PENT UP RAGE, RONALD." She finished by slamming her hand on the counter. He simply stared at her with his eyebrows raised as she finally looked away and slugged down the rest of her drink.

"I think we need another fruity drink over here, Seamus." Ron called behind his back. "So, you mean to tell me you're going bat-shit crazy because you haven't been able to let off steam?"

"Don't swear, Ron. I guess so," she heaved with a sigh.

"Tell me, when was the last time you had a good shag, Hermione?"

Even intoxicated, Hermione felt her face glow red and her temperature increase several degrees.

"What kind of question is that!?"  
"I'm just asking. You've been so wound up lately. I bet your marathon runs were your subconscious way of burning off your hormones," he said in a knowing voice as he caught the drink Seamus slid to him from across the bar. "May I make a suggestion?"

Hermione's mouth was still wide open in shock.

He sipped the drink before placing it in her open hand. "You haven't been with anyone for almost, what? 6 months now? Since you broke up with Roy, that slimy git." Hermione closed her mouth and frowned. "You know he was a slimy git, don't get me started on him. Anyway, I know you're not the type of girl to pick up any random idiot in a bar and use him for a one-nighter..."

"Does this lovely recollection of yours have a point?" She cut in roughly.

"All I'm saying is that you could probably use the release," he said with a shrug.

"And so what? I should call up another one of my 'slimy git' ex's and see if any of them want to revive the old flame?" She was started to get irritated again.

"Of course not."

"Then what do you suggest?!" She was definitely angry now.

Without looking at her, he picked up her glass and replied, "Well, I have been told that I am a rather great in the sack, and I'm always willing to help a friend in need." He winked at her once before taking a long swig and setting the glass down. When he turned to face her, he found her mouth was open again in shock.

"Yunno, you look like a cute little fish when you make that face." He chuckled to himself as she quickly shut her mouth.

"I must be completely trashed because I think you're staying insane things. I need to go home," said Hermione as she tried to stand up. Her legs were not as steady as she thought they were, and she immediately lost her balance. Ron managed to catch her under her arms just in time. _He smells good, _she thought, and instantly shook the thought out of her head.

"Alright, I'm driving this silly drunk home. I'll take care of her tab in a sec, Seamus." Ron waved off Seamus, and then scooped Hermione up.

_He just has to be muscular. Damn auror training._ She shook her head quickly to dispel the distracting thoughts. "Put me down Ronald Weasley, I can walk in a straight line anytime and I would much rather apparate!"

"Come on, Hermione," he said as he placed her feet on the pavement outside of Seamus's pub, "you have to let me know what you think of my driving, I have to be able to fool even muggles in this next one." He used one arm to brace her on the way to the car, and helped her into the passenger seat. Her heart skipped a beat as his face came within inches of hers while he fastened her seatbelt.

"I can buckle my own seatbelt, Ron." She practically whispered into his ear as he finally managed to click the metal latch in place.

He turned to face her, and she couldn't help but notice that his lips were suddenly very close. "I just wanted to show you I know what I'm doing." Still smiling, he pulled his head out of the car. "Let me go pay your tab, and I'll show you what else I've learned."

As she watched him walk back around the parking lot and into the pub, she had to think about what he said. It _had_ been a while, but she didn't think that's what she was craving exactly. Now that the idea had been mentioned, however, it really did seem like the likely reason for her recent irritation and impatience. But was he actually serious? Sure, Ron may have been the star in her day dream fantasies when she was still in Hogwarts, but that was at least three years ago. Ron had made it clear that he could never rest until every Death Eater was caught or killed in his revenge for Fred, and Hermione was forced to search for her parents by herself after the war. She remembered saying to him during an angry row that she didn't need him to help look for her parents. She claimed she didn't need him as she went off to search for them, so Ron ran off with Harry to track down Rookwood as he wanted. At first she was furious, but she didn't want to stay angry with him during such dangerous times. Soon, he and Harry were taking missions more frequently, and Hermione managed to accept his choice and move on. She soon found herself able to date other men, even though they were always 'slimy gits,' in Ron's opinion. Not that he wasn't dating his fair share of ridiculous women—the ladies that he frequently introduced to Harry and Hermione when they got together were always blonde and well-endowed. _And dumb as nails, _Hermione thought with vitriol. Not that she cared. _Or do I?_

Ron finally got back to the car and slid into the driver's seat. "Okay... keys go in this slot thingy..." The engine roared to life as Hermione realized that Ron was actually going to try to drive her home. "I put this handle thingy in the D slot—"

"R. You want to put it in reverse first."

"Right, right.... so it's in reverse now. Gas time," he muttered excitedly.

The car lurched backwards and crashed into another parked car behind them.

"Bloody hell, driving these machines on the ground is ridiculous."

"I think you need more practice," was all Hermione could say between heavy fits of giggles. Several wrong turns and five smashed cars that needed magical fixing later, they finally made it to Hermione's place. "I need to find you some old lady to give you lessons. Honestly, I could have walked here faster!" She stifled another round of giggles as she got her apartment keys out.

Ron's grimace told Hermione that he did not find the situation as funny as she did. "Are you okay to walk?" He grumbled as he got out of the car.

"Yes, 'Mr. Toad's Wild Ride' could sober up someone as tough as Hagrid!" She leaned against the side of his car and clutched her sides as another wave of hysterical laugher hit her.

Ron rolled eyes, but soon found himself chuckling too. "We can't all be as perfect as you at everything." He grabbed the keys in her hands and held on to her arm. After a quick look to make sure no one was watching, he apparated the both of them outside her apartment door. The anti-apparating spells Hermione placed on the inside of her apartment kept anyone from getting into her place without an invitation. With one fluid motion, he opened her door and scanned the room with his hand on his wand in his leather jacket.

"You and Harry always do that," Hermione remarked as she pushed past him to walk into her apartment and flip the lights on.

"You can never be too careful," he replied seriously. He shut the door and walked into her bedroom at the other side of the room.

Hermione felt her heart rate increase as she watched him enter the bedroom. His earlier offer was still ringing in her head, and as much as she hated the idea, a part of her wanted to throw him against a wall and have her way with him. But was it because she _maybe_ still had feelings for him? _Of course not. I just have an accumulation of stress that needs to be handled in a different way. It's a completely normal and natural way to relieve stress._ She continued to reassure herself as he returned to the main room.

"Looks clear. Are you going to be alright tonight? I have a really great potion for hangovers that George and I have been working on, you should give it a try." He pulled out a small vial from his jacket and placed it on the end table by the couch.

"Actually... there is something you can do for me," she hesitated. _You are a rational witch, and this is a rational way to deal with your problems,_ she reminded herself.

"What do you need?" Ron asked. He walked up to the door where she was still standing, and leaned against the wall about an arm's reach away.

"About what you said earlier..." she started off nervously, "did you mean it?"

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment—a nerve-wrecking, hair-pulling, excruciating moment for Hermione.

"Oh you mean about me driving? Yeah, I know I'm bad now but Harry said he would teach me more tomorrow, I'll be a professional by the end of the week. Although why muggles use those idiotic cars to begin with—"

"That's not what I meant, you prat! And you know that!" Hermione scowled and took a step closer.

Ron stood up straight and ran a hand through his hair. _Where did all of that irritating confidence go now!?_ Hermione thought angrily. "Hermione, you've been drinking. I never should have suggested it in the first place, I was just being a jerk..."

"I told you, you're terrifying car ride scared me straight. I've thought over your argument, and rationally speaking it seems to be the most logical way to deal with my stress load." She took another small step closer.

Ron gulped nervously. "I still don't think you're thinking straight..."

"Why? Would you think less of me because I have certain needs that you so kindly pointed out?"

"No, of course not—"

"And didn't you say that you're 'always willing to help a friend in need?'"

He continued to nervously choke out responses. "Well, yeah but I'm not going to—"

She looked into his blue eyes, his face only inches away from hers again. "I need you, Ron."

His stammering stopped instantly. She dropped her gaze from his eyes to his lips, and in an instant she felt them pressing against hers feverishly. She placed her hands on his strong chest and let her hands snake their way up to clasp themselves around his neck, enjoying the muscular structure beneath his blue shirt. Ron's hands found her waist and pulled her towards him while he pushed their bodies against the door. She grunted as her back hit the door, but pushed against it to wrap her legs around his torso. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her to hold her in place. She tugged and pulled at his hair while his tongue ran over her lips. When he left her mouth to trace her jaw bone to her ear, she barely suppressed a moan.

"Bedroom!" she managed to choke out as his tongue passed over her collar bone.

In a manner of seconds, he was lowering her onto the bed and kicking his shoes off. He continued to nip and lick her neck as she pulled his leather jacket off and placed her hands under his shirt. His abdominal muscles were firm and seemed to constrict under her touch. She yanked the shirt over his head and found his lips once again with her own as her hands explored his bare chest. Ron quickly let one of his hands find the bottom hem of her dress shirt, causing Hermione to gasp when his warm hands touched the skin on her waist. She started unbuttoning her shirt from the bottom while sucking on his lower lip.

"What's with all the bloody buttons?" He whispered huskily when he noticed she was still trying to undo the second one.

"I'm trying," she muttered and caught his mouth with hers.

"Not fast enough," he whispered again as he pulled away, and ripped her shirt apart, revealing a black lacy bra. Hermione gasped and gave him a look of astonishment.

"Oh.. sorry... don't be angry, it was just too... I didn't think you'd care..." Ron began stammering again as he realized what he did.

Just as he was about to get off of her, Hermione rolled him over and straddled his hips. Her kiss had a sudden intense desire that Ron could only assume was brought on by being incredibly aroused. He took advantage of her new frenzied state and whipped her shirt and bra off, never taking his mouth away from hers. As his hands began massaging her breasts, she started to grind her hips against his groin. He moaned and quickly pulled the zipper on her skirt down and off her as she unbuttoned his jeans. Her hand cupped over his erection through his pants, and he quickly rolled her back over to pull off the obstructing material. She smirked when she noticed his Chudley Cannons boxers, but soon felt hr lips being crushed by his again. He gasped when her delicate hands grasped his penis and slowly worked their way up and down his shaft.

"Hermione..." he moaned as he slowly slid her matching black panties down to her knees. He felt her shiver as he ran his fingertips back up the inside of her thigh. She continued to kick them off and rub him through is boxers, gazing into his eyes with her heavily-lidded, lust-filled brown ones. Ron had never been so aroused as he let his fingers travel along the entire length of her thigh, towards the hot, wet core between her legs. Hermione gave a strangled cry as his index finger traced her dripping entrance. She grabbed his face and pulled him down to crush their lips together, moaning loudly as his fingers hit sensitive regions. He quickly removed his boxers with his other hand while rubbing his thumb against her wet clit, letting his tongue enter her mouth when she opened it to cry in pleasure. With his erection free, he rubbed it gently against her soaking entrance.

"Ron, please..." she whispered as she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist. He found her mouth once again, and slowly entered her. She moaned deeply into his mouth when she felt him enter her entirely. His hands worked their way up to massage her breasts again while she arched her back and dug her nails into his shoulders. She shoved her hips into his, urging him to continue. He sped up at a painfully slow rate, and Hermione found herself screaming into his neck.

"Patience," he moaned as he increased the strength in his thrusts and nibbled her neck. Finally, he couldn't take it any longer—he started pumping into her quickly as her screams became louder and more frequent. Ron knew she was close when he watched her close her eyes. He felt her vaginal walls squeezing him, and he thrust into her as hard and as quickly as he could. As they came together, Ron caught her mouth with his, turning her last strangled cry into a deep moan. Waves of ecstasy generating from her core rippled to her head and toes as her muscles continued to contract. He kept thrusting in a slow, gentle way until her walls stopped milking him. Ron collapsed next to her on the bed, and threw the covers over both of them. She was still incoherent with pleasure when a muscular arm pulled her to his chest and wrapped around her waist. Hermione instinctively laid her arm across him and buried her face into his muscular chest. She felt his lips press lightly against the top of her head, and in seconds she was asleep.

Hermione awoke several hours later to a loud crash on the opposite side of the bed.

"YARRGHHH" Ron yelled as Crookshanks dropped a dead mouse on his chest.

"RON! Calm down!" He jumped off the floor and back into the bed. Crookshanks purred on the carpet by the foot of the bed. "Yes, good boy, Crookshanks," Hermione muttered half-heartedly as she fished through her mangled shirt for her wand. With a flick and wave, the mouse was transfigured into a small mushy pile of cat food.

"Are you SERIOUS? That's disgusting!"

"Enough yelling, Ron! Field mice have all the nutritional requirements a cat needs, minus the bones and other indigestible bits. Honestly, Ron, it's a mouse. You face death eaters and monsters every day!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Right..." Ron started to look groggy and embarrassed as the sudden adrenaline rush wore off. Hermione noticed that he was still naked, and moved over to let him under the covers again. The clock indicated that it was only around 4 am, and that they would most definitely go back to sleep. This time, however, he didn't pull her into a warm embrace, but faced the ceiling with his eyes open. Hermione wanted to place her head on his chest again, but felt like that wasn't something she could do in this situation. _Why would I even want that? _ She asked herself. _It was just really fabulous sex right?... Right? Only two people in love would hold each other like that after such an experience._ She suddenly found herself very sad.

"This is definitely not how I wanted to wake you up," he admitted after several minutes.

Still facing him, she asked, "What do you mean? Were you actually planning to wake me up at all?" As the words left her mouth, she found herself slipping into a deeper sadness. She did her best to hide it with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

Ron finally turned to study her expression. "Of course. I was planning on getting you breakfast, but it looks like Crookshanks beat me to it," he added with a grin. His face fell suddenly as he absorbed her last sentence. "Unless you don't want me here, anymore?"

"Oh, well... if you have somewhere to go, I don't want to be the one holding you back... but breakfast does sound nice. At a reasonable time, anyway." She found she was no longer able to look him in the eyes, and she dropped her gaze to his left shoulder.

Hermione felt a hand gently lift her chin, forcing her eyes to make contact with his. "What's wrong?" His blue eyes seemed to smolder even in the early morning light.

"I... I'm sorry," she mumbled out and closed her eyes, unable to stare at his handsome face anymore. "I shouldn't have made you do that last night... I took advantage of you, and now things are going to be weird." She willed the tears to disappear, to not flood her eyes like they always did when she was devastated.

"You didn't make me do anything! I'm the one who took advantage of you... You should be calling the ministry and having them ship me off to Azkaban." Hermione could hear the smile in his voice, and was completely confused.

"Ron," she opened her eyes and searched his, "but I'm not one of your beautiful blonde, veela-women! You must be so ashamed..."

Ron leaned in to kiss a tear on her cheek. "Hermione, I could never regret anything I do with you. I've wanted to do this for so long, well... under different circumstances of course, but the point is I've always wanted to be with you... You're making the cute fish-face again."

It was Hermione's turn to yell. "WHAT? What the HELL do you mean you've always wanted to be with me? I thought you made it clear as crystal that you would rather chase after Death Eaters than be with me? Where the HELL is this COMING FROM?" She ripped his hand away from her face to sit up, clutching the covers tightly to her chest.

"I... Hermione I've always wanted you, but I had to catch that murderous bastard that got to Fred. You understand that, don't you?" The look on his face remained sincere, as he reached out his hand again to touch her shoulder.

She smacked it away again. "So why is it that after you caught that bloody bastard you never said anything? You never implied that you wanted to try again! You ran off and found some big breasted, idiotic BLONDE to shag!?"

"Because you had already moved on!" Ron shouted back as he sat up.

As Ron sat up, the covers pulled out of Hermione's grasp, revealing her bare chest. She yelped and buried herself further into the sheets near the foot of the bed.

Ron snorted. "Seriously, Hermione? After what we did last night, you're going to get all modest now?"

She continued to both fume from anger and die from embarrassment under the sheets.

Ron tried switching tactics, and changed to a reasoning, sad tone. "Look... I thought you had moved on, alright? You seemed to be doing fine without me... So instead of forcing anything on you, I just tried to move on too..." He explained. "It wasn't easy yunno, watching you date other guys. I wanted to hex them into next month any time they just looked at you. And I guess I... I guess I got over it all by throwing myself to the easiest women I could find."

From under the covers, Hermione angrily asked, "So why last night? What was so special then? Are you saying I seemed easy or something?"

"NO! No, I would never think of you that way... it's just... you said you needed me."

Hermione pulled the covers down to study his expression. Could she believe what she was hearing?

"When you said that you needed me, I lost it. Any feelings I buried came rushing to the top, and I couldn't control myself anymore. To hear that you, beautiful, confident, independent Hermione Granger, say you needed me? To hear that there was a place in your life that I could fill? Any guy would have gone as mad as I did. Apparently, I'm still crazy about you, Hermione."

She couldn't take it any longer; she launched into his chest and pressed him back down into the pillows to passionately kiss him.

"Oh Ron. You're an idiot, you know that?" she muttered as she finally pulled away.

"Wow. I pour my heart out to you, and you call me an idiot. Are we still 17 or something?" He said with a wide smile.

Hermione slapped him playfully on the chest. "No, but you do have 3 years of shagging to make up for. Thank Merlin you're better at this than you are driving."

Ron growled roughly and returned the kiss with promises of more to come.

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Anybody notice my little movie plug in there? _Driving Lessons_ starring Rupert Grint was actually pretty funny, give it a try. Thanks for reading, and flame away if you wish. I want to improve, so.. "calls 'em as you sees 'em." You know what I mean.


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